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BROOKFIELD -- The Board of Selectmen is considering granting a seven-year real estate and property tax abatement to a Danbury-based technology firm if the company expands to a Silvermine Road location.

The company, ATMI Inc., which supplies materials to semiconductor manufacturers, is headquartered on Danbury's Commerce Drive, but is looking to expand its presence in the area, according to Dean Hamilton, the company's director of investor relations and corporate communications.

"We're looking locally, exploring options available to us to in essence expand our local presence," Hamilton said Friday.

Hamilton said the company has "run out of room" at its space for headquarters and research and development in Danbury, but that "we want to be in greater Danbury" with respect to expanding.

"It seems like a terrific company," First Selectman Bob Silvaggi said Thursday after a special selectmen's meeting that in part explored the idea of giving the company tax abatements as an incentive to open offices in Brookfield.

Selectman Joni Park and Silvaggi voted unanimously to send a letter to the company indicating the town would be open to a tax abatement if the company moved to a building at the corner of Silvermine Road and Federal Road owned by Roy Young. Selectman Jerry Murphy was absent from Thursday's meeting.

Silvaggi and Park said the town stands much to gain from exhibiting a business-friendly outlook.

"For businesses like this that come in ... there has to be a number of small businesses that spin off," Silvaggi said.

"I think it's a draw to bringing new businesses into town, and to my mind that's an advantage," Park said, adding the company would help build the town's Grand List, though "admittedly down the road."

"I don't see how we can lose on it," Silvaggi said. "It's a win-win situation."